How To Make $6,000 A Year Selling Digital Stickers (2024)

One of the most popular side hustles readers get started with after landing on my blog is selling printables on Etsy.

This lead me down a rabbit hole to see what other side hustles can be done on Etsy – and I stumbled upon someone who sells digital stickers!

I reached out to business owner Michelle Simpkin also known as WildAnd Solo on Etsy who sells digital stickers.

She loves this side hustle so much that she now teaches others how to make money with it in her digital sticker side hustle course.

Can you give a brief introduction of yourself?

Hey, I’m Michelle Simpkin from Toronto, Canada. I’m a digital planner + digital sticker creator and a digital nomad. I travel full-time while creating beautiful digital planners for adventurers and teaching digital planner creators how to create beautiful, fun digital stickers with zero drawing skills.

I started my Etsy shop in 2017 by designing, printing, and binding my own papers planners.

After selling out of my first run of planners, I realized that I did all this hard work and didn’t make any money. Something had to change. I really wanted to create a passive income business.

From there I started creating my own printables, including yearly calendar printables but, even though they did ok, I wasn’t passionate about it since I didn’t use printables myself.

I ended up ditching my Etsy shop for over a year while I puttered around in topics like decluttering (which I’m absolutely obsessed about!).

But nothing really clicked until a friend of mine told me about digital planners. Even then, I rebelled hard against them because it seemed like everyone was creating them.

After a few months of resisting them, I gave them a try myself and fell head over heels for them.

Which makes sense since I had to go paperless now that I was traveling full-time. I bought a digital planner template and went all in on it.

Within a few months I had 8 digital planners up for sale in my Etsy shop and had made over $700 in profit my first month (and over $1000 in profit my second month).

Then I found out about digital stickers.

And I just loved learning how to create cute, fun stickers even though I completely suck at drawing and have no graphic design skills at all.

I had other Etsy shop owners asking me how I created my stickers so easily using software we already had and that’s when I created my course on how to Create Digital Stickers For Non Artists.

What are digital stickers?

Digital stickers are a PNG image that you can decorate your digital planners with.

It can be anything from post it notes to washi tape to picture frames and realistic looking charms.

If you’ve seen a sticker on a paper planner, you can most likely create a digital version.

How much money can someone make selling digital products?

There is no limit to what you can make! Since it’s passive income, the opportunities are endless.

Now I can’t say that you’ll make a ton of money tomorrow but if you’re passionate about your digital product, face your fears, and put effort into your business, you can definitely make money.

Just think, you can create a product once and it can sell over and over again. You can even automate it so you have less work to do. Who wouldn’t want that?

Are other people successful selling digital products/stickers?

Yep! Some of my closest biz friends are making a great income from selling digital products (planners, courses, templates, etc.).

Digital stickers create more value for your digital planners so you can:

• stand out from the other digital planners out there
• increase your prices because you’re adding more value for your customers.

I’ve even seen a shop have only one digital planner in theirshop and it sells like wildfire.

Related: 34 Ways To Make Extra Money Today

What if I can’t draw?

Then you’re in the right place. I’m horrible at drawing and can still make cute stickers! Thankfully we have all these tools available to us where our lack of drawing skills doesn’t hinder us.

My course is specifically created for people who can’t draw because why should artists have all the fun?

How long does it take to make stickers?

It depends on how many stickers you want to create. Some of my students have made over 500 stickers for 1 product.

I’ve designed the course so you can create stickers easily and quickly.

What you need to know is that I’m super lazy so I’m always looking for easier ways to get things done, which is why I share all my hacks with my students.

I’ve also included templates for Canva Pro and Apple Keynote users so you could literally have 100 stickers ready within the hour (or sooner!).

Plus I have a new product, The Digital Sticker Template Hub, which is a hub full of fun and easy to use digital sticker templates.

These are different from the basic templates you’ll get inside the course. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to create awesome stickers in no time.

What software do I need to make digital stickers?

You can make digital stickers using different design softwares, including:

• PicMonkey
• Canva Pro
• Apple Keynotes
• Affinity Publisher
• InDesign
• Procreate
• And the list goes on.

In my course, I focus on the easiest and most accessible options, which are Canva Pro, PicMonkey, and Apple Keynote (both desktop and iPad app versions for all 3 softwares).

You don’t need all 3, only 1 will do.

Why do you recommend this side hustle?

I recommend making digital stickers and digital products because:

• It’s a lot of fun and even gets a bit addictive! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
• You create the product once and continue to make sales
• It’ll help give you the freedom that you crave. Financial freedom. Freedom to spend more time with your family. Freedom to live the life you want to live.

Below is a sneak peak inside the course.

How can someone get started making and selling digital stickers?

If you want a step by step method that takes you from planning your designs and creating stickers to prepping and marketing your stickers, the Creating Digital Stickers For Non Artists course will guide you through it all.

This is by far the easiest way to make digital stickers by using a program that you probably already have and use.

Who is your course perfect for?

My course is perfect for people who:

• want to create digital stickers easily and quickly.
• don’t have graphic design skills or good at drawing.

What you do need is access to any one of these softwares (iPad or Desktop versions): Canva Pro, PicMonkey, or Apple Keynotes. If you’re ready to create some freaking awesome stickers, join us in the course!

You can grab the course here.

You can get the Create Digital Stickers course here.

Final note

Michelle started her Etsy shop in 2017 selling paper planners that she printed and binded herself.

The planners often sold out, but they were a ton of work and she saw little to no profit, so she started creating printables.

Michelle wasn’t really into printables and didn’t use them personally, so she stopped selling printables and discovered what she really loved: digital planners and digital stickers.

She made over $700 her first month in profit. In her second month, she made over $1,000 in profit. This is why I love side hustles!

If you want to do the same and make money with this side hustle, I recommend checking out Michelle’s digital sticker side hustle course.

And don’t forget to sign up for the Free Resource Library and get access to a ton of freebies!

Do you want to start this side hustle?

Best side hustles tostart right now

• Sell printables on Etsy – Selling printables is the #1 side hustle to make money. This can be done on your own schedule and turn into passive income! You can earn over $10,000 a year selling printables.
• Sell dog treats – Make $1,000+ selling dog treats from the comfort of your home. Be your own boss and make your own schedule.
• Proofreading – Earn $20+ an hour proofreading from home. Great for people who enjoy editing and working from a computer.
• Surveys – Make money filling out surveys. You can take as many surveys as you want and earn up to $5 per survey.